Salad bowl (cultural idea)

A salad bowl or tossed salad is a metaphor for the way an intercultural society can integrate different cultures while maintaining their separate identities, contrasting with a melting pot, which emphasizes the combination of the parts into a single whole.

In Canada this concept is more commonly known as the cultural mosaic[1] or "tossed salad".

This idea proposes a society of many individual cultures, since the latter suggests that ethnic groups may be unable to preserve their heritage.

Supporters argue that being "American" does not inherently tie a person to a single culture, though rather to citizenship and loyalty to the United States.

Critics tend to oppose the idea in tandem with other critiques on multiculturalism, saying that America needs to have a common culture in order to preserve a common national identity.